REVELATION

Quire has been active in southern East Anglia for
more than a decade and works in a variety of
genres, hiving offtwo small ad hoc groups
for
more intimate repertoire. The programme here is
divided into sections – ‘Voice of the People’,
‘British Tradition’, ‘Visitors to Quire’ and
‘Rock and Soul’ – of
which only the last doesn’t quite work. Rocking
out pop themes or
the atmospheric jazz of Billie Holiday’s
signature Strange Fruit is a
risky strategy for an amateur choir, and the
programme would
have ended more successfully with the
Bosnian/Croatian/English
material in ‘Visitors’. Tamblyn gets a lovely
balance of voices,
though, and the boldness of selection mostly
works. The small
groups shine, which is good news, since a
separate CD, to be called
Angel Band, is imminent or may already be
out.